What I could be
by Fromtheheart12
Summary: Set in Httyd. Until later chapters, all characters are OC's. Skye lives in a village not far from Burke, not that she knows it. Her village deals with Dragons, of course, and the Chief comes up with a clever plan to ensure that there will be more survivors. Skye gets involved with the plan, and discovers something she thought no one would ever find...
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys**

**Thank you for reading this story! This is my first httyd fanfic so it might not be that good. The next chapter should be out within the week or maybe slightly later, because school is starting soon :(**

**Please read and review!**

Chapter one- The trials

"And… she does it again." I hear my father sigh as I throw my bread up in the air, and catch it in my mouth, much to the delight of my younger sister. She giggles and bangs her small fists on the table and scream for me to do it again. I take the last piece of bread and toss it up, catching it in my mouth and grinning at her. He sighs again.

"Your mother would kill you if she caught you doing that." I stick my tongue out at my father.

"Yes, I know, but she won't catch me because she's down training." Frayer giggles again and pokes her small tongue out at me. I just turn my head to repeat the gesture.

"You're going to teach your sister bad manners." He finally says, after watching us pull faces at each other. I whine at him and pull a face at him instead of Frayer. Out of the corner of my eye I see my sister do the same. He sighs a final time and returns the face. I smile and laugh, before downing my water from a goblet and leaving the table. Frayer screams and bangs her fists, shouting my name.

"You can't just leave, Skye!" My father calls, rushing to try and cheer up Frayer by balancing his bread on his nose.

"Yep, I sure can! By the way Dad, Frayer likes it if you chuck it up in the air…"

"…and catch it in your mouth. I know, Skye. Where are you going?" I smile again as I back up slowly in the direction of the door. I watch, humoured as he chucks the bread up in the air and misses the catch, allowing the bread to bounce down onto the floor.

"To see some friends, and to try and kill some dragons." He chuckles, picking up the bread.

"Good luck with that. We won't have an attack tonight, we're sure. Besides, you are too young to catch a dragon."

"Whatever, Dad. One day I'll bring home a Night Fury." He stiffens, and then laughs again. My father straightens up and looks me in the eye.

"If anyone could catch one of those beasts, we would hang their heads on our walls as prizes. Just go Skye, and don't do anything stupid." I grin at him and turn around, laughing again as I hear Frayer start to scream again.

As I step out the door I breathe in, allowing the fresh air to clear my mind and refresh my senses. The flame red strands of my hair fly out around me and I breathe in again. Children are running around in our village, playing games while their disapproving parents watch. In the distance I can see two teens fighting with wooden swords.

Something hard knocks into me from the side, and I tumble to the right, feeling the object falling with me. I lift my arms to cover my face as my back hits the ground, but they are tugged back down and pulled up above my head. My eyes fly open.

"Surprise!" Chester grins down at me. After catching my breath from the fall I laugh, and he laughs too. Too get him back I blow air upwards in his face, making him roll off me. I sit up and stare at him, still with a grin on my lips, looking into his tawny eyes.

"I thought we were meeting outside the main hall, not on my doorstep." I say sarcastically, and he smiles a crooked smile, which makes me melt inside. It's like the day when we first met, when he teased me over the two bunches I had on the sides of my head. I hadn't reacted like he'd expected, and we had become firm friends. I remember thinking how unique his smile was when I first saw it.

"We were, but I got bored of waiting." I laugh and he sits up, lacing his fingers with mine. "So… shall we go?" I nod and jump up, using all the training I have had since my eight birthday to lift my body off the ground using just my legs. Chester does the same, until he is stood next to me. I look up at him, squinting slightly.

Today, for the first time this summer, it is sunny. There isn't a cloud in the sky. Chester's dark hair gleams red in the sun, his freckles almost invisible from the harsh glare on his skin.

"Yeah. Where are we meeting Anna?" Chester starts to walk off and I follow hastily, rushing up to his side. Chester is so much taller than me, that the top of my head barely clears his shoulder. I look up at him as we walk, marvelling in the way his entire face is relaxed, even though all his senses are alert and waiting. Like me, he is always waiting for a dragon. Suddenly he whips his head to the side; he must have heard something. A sheep runs out from the foliage. He relaxes.

"I'm sure she hinted something about trying out for training again, but we're meeting in the forest as usual." I smile and take his hand. Chester's voice is so soft and smooth that it reassures me no matter what the situation. I am almost sure that he could calm a crying baby.

"Then the forest we shall go." I reply, starting to tug him into a run. Running is effortless for us, because we have always run everywhere. We have to be fast, because the dragons we get here are lightning-quick, and we have to be fit, as chasing dragons isn't all that uncommon. Our feet pound on the earth out of rhythm, as his legs is so much longer than mine. I know that I could probably run faster than him, but I don't want to right now. We are just running together. He lets go of my arm so we don't hurt each other, and also so we can navigate the trees. We know where we are going.

Finally we arrive. Anna is waiting for us in a small patch of light that filters through the leaves above. Her strawberry blonde braids gleam like silver and her tanned skin makes it look paler. She turns at the sound of our footsteps and waves cheerfully. We stop in front of her and give hugs in greeting. Anna hugs Chester a lot tighter than she did me.

"What kept you guys?" She asks, slightly annoyed. Chester smiles smugly at me. "Oh god, what did you do this time, Skye?"

"It wasn't me!" I protest, raising my hands submissively. "It was- It was Frayer. She wanted entertaining. I had to give Dad instructions. And _then_ Chester decided it would be fun to attack me." I stick my tongue out at him. Anna laughs and Chester harrumphs, folding his arms.

"So what are we going to do?" He asks. Anna grabs a sword she must have stolen from the grass next to her.

"Dragon training. This year they are going to accept us." It's my turn to laugh at her, especially when she tries to lift the sword and swing it. Her tiny arm barely manages and she almost drops the sword on her foot. I lunge forward and snag it from her before it can do any damage.

"Anna you are twelve. You're underage." I lift the sword horizontally and place it in her hands. Her arms automatically droop under the weight and I raise an eyebrow. "Besides, you can't even hold a sword."

"I can." She says stubbornly, trying to swing it again. This time Chester has to jump backward so he doesn't get speared.

"Watch it," He growls, taking the sword from her. We all laugh. "Sorry Anna, maybe we can train you so they will accept you when you're old enough."

"Yeah, and you can be mine and Chester's mentor this year." I add.

"There aren't such things as mentors though. But I suppose it would be kind of cool if you got accepted and I could say that I was the person that encouraged you to do it." She giggles quietly to herself, and then turns around and climbs a tree. She sits on a particularly thick branch and balances so she can look down. "Why don't you two have a mock fight?" She suggests, pointing to another sword in the grass. I wonder how she managed to carry them both here.

I pick it up and test its weight in my hands, passing it to my left and then right. I finally rest it in my right, allowing it to swings slightly. I turn to face Chester, who has already taken a defensive position. Last time he has beaten me, two against one. We play best out of three.

"Bet I win again." He calls, and I shake my head and smirk.

"No way, I have a trick up my sleeve."

"You always say that." He answers, and I start to move toward him, sword raised. We won't go for the kill or try to seriously hurt each other; this fight is all about manoeuvres. If he manages to slip past me he can disarm me and pin me down. I could do the same.

Chester strikes the first blow. He slashes his sword down and I move mine up to block him. We start an intricate dance, weaving around each other and trying to figure out the others tactics. Once again, Chester is the first to make a vital move. He slips the blade of the sword to the end of mine, cutting my fingers. Blood starts to run down. I wince as he whirls around me, pushing me forward with his foot. I stumble but manage to pull my sword up and slash at him, a move which he blocks, but throws him of balance.

We carry on our dance, neither of us with an upper hand now. I can feel Anna's eager eyes on our movements, trying to learn from us. Chester tries the same move, but this time I am prepared. I move away and strike a blow downward to his sword, making him lose his grip. He scrambles to pick up the sword but I kick it away and shove him forward onto the floor with my foot to his back. Chester tries to get up again but I dive down and sit on his legs, placing my feet on his wrists so he can't escape. I move my sword so he can feel the tip of the blade at the back of his neck.

Anna applauds from her tree.

"Well done!" She calls down. "I wish I could be as good as you, Skye!" Chester laughs and speaks from the ground.

"You said that exact same thing to me two days ago when I won!"

"I know," Anna says, starting to climb down, "But you didn't win today. So I am saying it to Skye, not you, Chester." I laugh at him, and remove the sword, chucking it to the side. I lean down my head and whisper in his ear.

"See? Not everything's about you, Chester, no matter how much Anna 'secretly' has a crush on you." I laugh and get off him, then watch as he dusts himself off. He pulls a face at me.

"Ha ha, maybe I should tell her what you just said. See how much she likes you then." Anna luckily doesn't hear, and comes and stands next to me.

"It's so true though." I say to him, careful not to mention anything about our younger friend. She is almost two years younger than us, as she has just turned twelve, and we will be fourteen in a few months. Chester and I both have our birthday in October.

Chester pulls another face at me and then walks over, apparently concerned. He lifts up my hand and studies my fingers. I look, too. The cuts aren't bad, quite shallow, but they stretch across all four of my fingers.

"Sorry," he apologises. "It was only meant to make you lose your hold."

"No don't worry about it," I say, pulling my hand from his. Looking down, I notice that Anna has a very jealous expression on her face from our contact, because she has never been as close to Chester as I am. "It was a good move. You need to teach me sometime." Chester nods and goes to pick up his sword. "Nu uh," I say. "I am not doing that again." He grins.

"I wasn't going to anyway. Just thought I could save Miss Anna here the trouble of taking them back to wherever it is she stole them from." She sighs and looks at him adoringly.

"Thanks. Those things are heavy." I roll my eyes and shake my head. I run over to her and punch her lightly in the shoulder.

"You so need to be trained." I declare as Chester grabs the other sword. "Where to now?" I ask them. Chester shrugs but Anna pipes up.

"Let's go and see if there are any dragons at the waterfall!" She suggests excitedly, jumping up and down. Anna is always kept inside when there are dragon attacks, and her parents will lock her room so she keeps out of danger. As there are no windows in her room, Anna has never seen a dragon. I, on the other hand, have regularly been caught up in a dragon attack, and have had to run and inform the villagers.

"No way!" Chester protests, swinging the swords in his hands. "That's an hour's walk away. I'm gonna go back and eat…" I laugh at Anna's disappointed expression.

"Yeah, maybe another day we can plan it, so we are ready." I say, starting to walk back in the direction of our homes. Chester follows, and Anna runs to catch up.

"But we will go there someday, right?" She asks.

"Yes," Chester and I say at the same time.

When we get back to the village, Anna has to go in a different direction to us, as her parents want her to eat at home. Chester and I carry on walking toward the main hall, where we will eat with the rest of our friends and neighbours. Chester drops the swords off in a large barrel designed to hold weapons that have been found.

We walk into the hall and toward the table that all our friends are sat at. They were talking about something dramatically.

"I heard that not even the other dragons can see them when they fly their fastest." Rachelle says, banging her fist on the table.

"Well I heard that they move so fast that not even the rare shooting star could beat it in a race." Harvey adds.

"Apparently they have to be fast because their size makes them a weak target." Ed tells them, and I finally catch on to the conversation.

"I've heard that this one man who didn't live in a village, had never seen one, heard one, or even noticed that one until there was one flying _right by his head_. His wife saw the beast kill him with a purple flare, and passed the story on to some villagers here that she didn't know, before dying with _shock_." Everyone gasped as I said the last part.

"Really?" Ed asks, leaning towards me as if I am going to tell anymore.

"What was the man called?" Johnny asks curiously. His sister, May, looks at me eagerly.

"No one knows his name, because the woman wouldn't speak it." I say, sitting back smugly, knowing that they were impressed by the story that only I knew. Night Furies were dragons that I loved, as in I loved there speed. If I saw one I would try to kill it. Chester suddenly nudges me in the side and leans over to whisper to me.

"Do you want some food?" I nod, and he pulls me into a hug. "I am sorry about the fingers." I laugh and he gets up to get us food. Everyone looks at me, Ed with his eyebrows raised.

"You guys are still friends?" He asks, surprised.

"Yeah, why wouldn't we be?" I ask, confused, and Rachelle covers her mouth with a hand, trying not to laugh.

"No, he doesn't mean it like that," May says, rolling her eyes. "He means are you two…. Together?"

"No!" I announce loudly, making everyone laugh. I join in, and when Chester gets back with two bowls of soup and a roll for us to share he asks what's up with us. Laughing, I tell him, and he flicks a strand of my hair away from my face.

"I hope you said no, otherwise my girlfriend won't be very happy."

"Your girlfriend?" Harvey asks, mystified.

"Yeah." Chester answers, looking down the table at all our friends. "Anna." We all start to laugh really hard and Harvey guffaws. Then he starts to choke, and Johnny whacks him on the back, hard.

After everyone finishes eating and many of the adults are starting to leave, something surprising happens. Chester's Dad, and also the Chiefs assistant, comes inside and asks everyone to please have a seat, and then everyone else from the village files in. I see Anna with her mom, and she looks at me jealously before having to sit with many of the village elders.

"What's going on…?" Chester mutters, mainly to himself.

"I don't know." I whisper back anyway.

Chester's Dad looks at his son in a sort of worried way, and then resumes asking people to be seated. Eventually the reason is explained. The Chief enters. In our village we are a very open community, and we often see the chief around, but not when he is dressed like this.

He is wearing thick clothes and his red cloak, which streams out behind him as he walks, making his blonde hair appear lighter. He was the youngest chief our village has ever seen, after his father had been killed by a Monstrous Nightmare, but now he had a daughter and two sons, all around our age. His daughter is rarely seen by the village, as she is always out hunting and doing other things. Rumours spread like wild fire about her, and many claim that she has already killed a dragon.

She is walking behind him. Unlike her father, who nods and looks at his villagers, Idonea looks straight ahead. She is in a purple cloak and black silk dress, and she looks dangerous. As she enters, people stop any hushed whispering they were doing and stare. On Idonea's head is something that shouldn't be.

Her mother's tiara.

As people start to see it the talking starts up again. Is the Chief's wife dead? Has she fallen ill? Is Idonea taking the next step forward? Chester takes my hand to reassure me, and I can see many couples across the room doing the same as we all need comforting until we are told the reason for this.

The Chief and his daughter walk to the back of the hall. Neither of the brothers are here.

"Good after-noon." The chief addresses us. "Many of you will be wondering where my dear wife is, and she is back in the house, perfectly safe, but a decision has been made. This year, we have many eager young men and women looking to become a dragon killer, a warrior, a fighter defending their village. But last year, we lost too many young lives." I remember the devastation of many families when, last year, a boat of new warriors set sail, and only three survivors made it back.

"So we need to test, not only train, our young warriors, to prove that they are ready. The council have therefore put together a contest. There will be a trail, for anyone willing to become a true Viking, and then four stages. The first stage to test endurance, the second to test emotional capabilities, the third will test strength, the fourth reactions and quick thinking. The final test will be for any competitors that make it to the end. The winner of the final test gets to kill a dragon. Anyone who passes the test will be a Viking. The rest of the competitors will enter training, and proceed from there." The chief pauses to allow everyone to let the news sink in. Many of the adults start to cheer, but the entire table I'm sat on stays quiet.

"My daughter, Idonea, will be entering this competition. Anyone wanting to enter too, must be over thirteen years of age. That is all. Have a great day, and there is no dragon attack predicted for tonight." The Chief leaves, but Idonea stays on the stage, and for the first time, looks up at us all. She is competing in this test. She hasn't killed a dragon. She is over thirteen years old. I have suddenly learnt so much about her.

As she looks up, and I see her face for the first time, I realise that she is beautiful. Her lips are full and a rosy pink, her skin pale, her eyes the colour of sapphires. Her hair is the same golden colour as her fathers. For a moment she just looks at everyone in the hall, and then, with a swish of her cloak and with elegance that could rival my own, she walks swiftly down the hall and out the door.

I am going to compete.


	2. Chapter 2

**This is still not finished, I just wanted to update. Please enjoy, and read and review :) xx**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the characters and plot I've written**

Chapter 2- Surprise Attack

As soon as Idonea leaves the hall the chatter starts up again, and many sound excited. Still frozen, our whole table remains silent, lost in thought. I'm assuming that many are picturing themselves killing a dragon, but I'm not. All I can picture is Idonea, sprinting toward one of the beasts, as fast as lightning. I can see her white blonde hair flying out and swirling around her as she whips around to attack…

My eyes snap back into focus. I look around the hall and notice Anna staring at me in a wistful way. I wonder what this news must be like for her. She can't compete because she's only twelve, and now she can't help us either. All her dreams must have been crushed. Poor Anna.

Chester suddenly tightens his grip on my hand and stands up, pulling me up with him. We are the only ones stood in the hall, but he doesn't seem to care as he tugs me out the hall. Stumbling slightly, I allow him to pull me out, trusting that he must have good reason. The great wooden door thud closed behind us.

"Where are we going?" I ask as he continues to walk. Ahead of me I can see his father, and ahead of him the Chief. Idonea is nowhere in sight.

"I noticed something and wanted to check it out." He replies bluntly, letting go of my hand and hiding behind some trees. I copy his actions quickly, and he pulls be backwards with his arm, gesturing with the other to be quiet. At first I wonder what he is waiting for, and then I hear footsteps.

Chester looks questioningly at me, and then moves his head to the side. It's a question. '_Do you want to follow?' _I nod my head, '_yes.' _

We run out from behind the tree and behind another, crossing a dirt path on the way. I vaguely remember seeing this path before, but avoiding it because it led into darkness, into the unknown. The unknown means danger.

From here we can see down the path. Someone in black is walking down the path. Chester widens his eyes, and I gasp. We're following the Chief's daughter. Chester glares at me after I made my sound, and Idonea stops in her tracks. She turns back, and we hide behind the tree again, facing in the other direction. When we turn back she was gone.

"Damn." He breathes, letting out the air he had been holding in. "She's good." He moves forward and scratches his head. The dark red strands fall into his face. He looks into my eyes carefully, probably scared by the fact that I haven't breathed for nearly thirty seconds. I stay frozen pressed against the tree.

Finally I sigh and detach myself from the branches. Chester comes forward and places a hand on my cheek.

"You okay?" He asks, smoothing circles into my skin with his thumb. I nod. "Are you sure? Because you're as pale as snow." I laugh shakily.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I guess just nervous." He smiles and pulls me into a hug. I wrap my weak arms around him and hug him back. What if we had been caught? Idonea's our age, but she seems dangerous. Would she have taken us back to the village to be punished by our parents? Would she have dealt with us then and there? Shutting off all thoughts about her, I try to relax.

"We should get back." He says, but I don't want to go back; there's too much on my mind.

"No." I say firmly, pulling back and taking his hands in mine. "Let's go to our spot." He smiles. We start to walk, stretching our legs and not concentrating on the ground, yet. Later on we will have to watch every step we take as we progress onto the rocks.

We walk in silence, waiting to say what's on our minds. Chester takes the lead and silently slips into a cave hidden in a stone wall in the forest. An old chief sent men out here to search the whole forest to have an understanding of our land, but Chester is sure that this part has been untouched except for our feet. I'm not so sure.

There is little light in this cave. Every step has to be well placed unless we want to fall and snap a leg, or crack our heads on the larger rocks towards the walls of the cave. I stumble once, but catch myself in time to carry on picking my way across the treacherous ground. Chester almost falls, but my hand flies out to keep him steady.

"Thanks." He breathes, obviously sighing in relief. Even after venturing here for years, we are still uncertain how big the cave is. When we first came here I broke a wrist, and had to pass it off as a training incident.

After ten minutes of the heart-stopping cave-walk, Chester calls that he can see the light ahead. I want to sigh, but jinxing it won't help us at all. Eventually we step out into the light and onto lush, springy green grass. It is a small valley, surrounded by high cliff faces. Trees circle the entire area; cherry, willow, oak. We head to a spot in the midst of the circular valley.

It's still there. When we first came here and found it, we had been dumbstruck. Chester wanted to move it, to take it back, but I said we should leave it untouched. I know I was right, especially as it's still here. Pure black, a large claw about the length of two of my fingers joined at the tips sits in the grass, untouched for years.

Chester and I seat ourselves there, somehow always drawn to the mysterious power that surges from it. We know it's a dragon claw as no birds around here have talons as long as it. I stare at the claw for a few minutes, still trying to figure out the secret behind it. Dragon's don't shed their claws, so this must be a result of a fight. Whether that fight had been between two dragons or between a man and the beast in question, I will never know…

Chester interrupts my thoughts by clearing his throat.

"So…" He says, looking me in the eyes. "Are you going to enter?" I don't even need to think about it.

"Of course." I reply, smiling slightly. He nods and ducks his head.

"Then I am too. I wasn't going to do it unless you were." I narrow my eyes and think that one over.

"Why not?" I ask, still confused. Chester looks up at me.

"Easy. Because I couldn't do something like this without you. Stage two, to test your emotional capabilities… I couldn't do that without someone to keep me from screaming." He speaks the words truthfully, and I silently agree with him. I am glad he is entering too.

"So what do you think they are going to make us do?" I ask, still picturing Idonea effortlessly swinging a sword. I can imagine she is as graceful fighting as she was walking out of the hall.

"Duh." He said, rolling his eyes. "Fight dragons."

"That's what they do in normal training. This is going to be different."

"True." He says. "In that case, I have no idea. They could make us do anything." I shrug and start to plait a tuft of long grass. Chester watches me. "I bet Anna's disappointed." He says randomly.

"Yeah, I saw her in the hall after Idonea left. She seemed kind of disappointed." I look at him again.

"She would be." He looks back, with curiosity in his eyes. "So what do you want to do whilst we're here?" I look around the valley and spy a small outcrop of rock that seems pretty climbable. I raise an eyebrow at him.

"Fancy a race?" I ask, smiling. He jumps up immediately.

"You're on. What are we doing?" I laugh at the order of his sentences. I could be asking him to race me off the edge of a cliff. Although this time we're going to be climbing instead of falling. I just gesture for him to follow me, and take off running toward the rock wall I had seen.

As usual, I hang back slightly so Chester can run by my side. I haven't run flat out for a long time and have been wanting to for a long time. My legs ache. Chester grins at me and gestures with a hand for me to go. I grin back, and start to sprint. I stretch my legs out and increase the pace at which they hit the ground, ducking lower and powering my speed with my swinging arms. I start to really run. I can hear the wind tearing through my hair and howling in my ears. I don't care. When you can reach these speeds, you normally don't.

I reach the cliff face at least ten seconds before Chester does. As he comes back to me, his breathing is raspier than usual.

"Did you run flat out all the way too?" I ask, slightly breathless from the exhilaration. He nods and I laugh. I turn to face the wall. "Can we start? Or do you need time to recover?" I laugh again as he joins me at the wall at my side. He glares at me, and then looks up. It's a tall outcrop of rock. Very tall.

"How far up are we going?" He asks roughly, determined to beat me.

"All the way. It will probably be smooth rock up there." He grimaces a little and I remember that sometimes he gets scared of heights. "Just don't look down." I say and he rolls his eyes at me. "Okay then… Go!"

We both start to scramble at the rocks, looking for the best path up. I see my way clearly even from the bottom. We have no supports climbing this and we really should get down, but somehow the thought of supporting our own body weight all the way up seems appealing. Chester manages to pull ahead of me as his feet have many more possible foot-holds than mine do, being able to cover more distance. I step up the pace and start to really fly up.

If anyone but us comes here, they will see two teenagers trying to kill themselves. We can't be even a quarter of the way up, but already falling would mean serious and maybe fatal injuries. Chester is still powering up the rocks, and I carry on chasing him. My foot slips slightly and I am dangling by my hands for a fraction of a second before I manage to regain my footing. My breath catches in my mouth and even that tiny time frame made my heart stop.

I carry on climbing. Chester is significantly ahead of me now and will probably win. As we reach the half way mark he pauses and I watch his chest heave from exertion. This is a lot higher than he usually goes. I wonder if I should have started this when he starts to climb again. I follow, hot on his heels after he stopped. My arms aren't tired yet, but I am breathless from the height and fear.

We're almost at the top when Chester slips slightly. He manages to pull himself back up, but he uses most of his strength. I climb level with him.

"You okay?" I gasp out. He nods, and I can see that he is ghostly pale. His lips are pressed into a tight line.

"I-I don't think I can move." He says, and I look at his arms which are shaking like leaves. "I don't think I have the strength to pull myself up, let alone down." I move closer to him and try to let the closeness comfort him. His breathing starts to become rapid.

"You can't just stay here, Ches. C'mon." I start to climb up again, but he remains frozen on his little ledge. "Chester." I look down at him, and can't help noticing the ground below, with the trees looking like green sheep. I can't see the claw from here, but I can still feel that it's still down there.

Chester groans and heaves himself up. I smile encouragingly at him. I can see the pain in his eyes as he starts to climb again, and the strain in his arms. The brown shirt he has on is damp from sweat from his stress. Chester shouts into the air and starts to climb quickly again.

I follow and watch his hands and feet to warn him if he is about to make a mistake, whilst watching my own path. The top of the rock comes into view and Chester starts to power up towards it. I scramble up the rock and haul myself onto the top to help him up.

It's a struggle, but I manage to get good grip on Chester's hand and with him lifting himself with one arm, he finally lays down on the smooth rock I promised.

"I'm never going to race you again." He says, lying face down, breathing hard. Sitting down, I shuffle to edge of the rock to look down into the valley. The rock isn't high enough to see past the cave we came through, or behind us. The valley is beautiful. The trees are tiny from up here and the grass is like an ocean of green. The flowers growing are merely tiny pinpricks of colour. I sigh and breathe in the fresh air.

"Come away from there." Chester groans. I look over my shoulder at him, and tuck my legs up and hug my knees. I stare into his eyes. He's sat up now, in the exact centre with his out to his sides, keeping him steady. The muscles in his arms are rigid from the stress of being so high.

"Okay." I whisper and crawl to him. I sit cross legged by his side and pull his head down into my lap. Giving in, Chester loosens and collapses down. My fingers fiddle with his dark red hair. "Why are you so scared?" I ask softly, leaning down, so my own flame hair falls around his face, concealing us from the world.

"My body thinks that I'm going to fall." He replies in a voice as smooth as velvet. My fingers move from his hair and touch his head lightly. I start to trace the shapes of his features with my fingertips in a feather-light touch.

"Why?" I lean closer so our noses are almost touching. I close my eyes, although not before I see him do the same.

"I don't know." Nowadays, as we are getting older especially, Chester and I share many moments like this. We used to touch and hug all the time, but moments like this, moments that are private, moments that are so sweet, are appearing much more frequently. Sometimes we are so close we almost kiss, and even though we are just friends, I often find that I want it to happen.

"Shall we go back?" I ask, wondering if the closeness is uncomfortable for him. I feel Chester's eyes open, and I open mine, too.

"Not yet. I think that if you move your hair I might actually have a breakdown." He chuckles lightly and runs his fingers through my hair.

"Okay, but leaning down like this is hurting my back." I whisper, smiling at him. Taking a deep breath, Chester closes his eyes and sits up, moving so that he is lying on the rock and I am lying across his chest. I fan my hair out again so he can't see past my face. I'm not doing because I want him to only look at me, it's just so he can concentrate.

"Better?" He asks, and I nod. "We're going to have to go down that way, aren't we?" His eyes close again, and I can see clearly that he is trying not to start freaking out.

"I can look for another way if you want." He nods quickly and opens his eyes. I stare into them, and Chester bends his head upwards. I lean down, slowly, still staring into his eyes. Closer and closer we get, every second passing with a heartbeat. Finally, in the briefest of kisses, Chester's lips touch my own.

The world disappears, and the only thing is us. I feel Chester smile underneath my lips, and I smile too and pull back.

"That was nice." He whispers, still smiling.

"It was." I reply. Chester sits up and I fall back onto the rocks. I laugh as his face forms a mask of worry. I look back. "Oh c'mon, I'm not even close to the edge!" I laugh freely and jump up. "Stay here," I instruct. "I think there might be a way down through there." I point at another outcropping of rock that has a patch of bushes at the back.

"How are you going to get on there?" He asks, suddenly wary.

"How do you think?" I take a few steps, watching over my shoulder so I don't step off the rock into a fatal fall. Bending my knees slightly, I look at the small run up I have. It better be enough.

"No!" Chester yells, just as I take off into a sprint. I count my strides. Two strides until I have to jump. One, two… I launch myself up and across, focussing my eyes on a huge tree root dangling from the rock. I reach out my arms and grip it tightly, swinging my legs around to get a good foothold in the rock. I laugh again. It was too easy.

"I'm okay." I call to him, still laughing. "Just fine, actually." I hear him sigh loudly and groan, but I don't look at him. I'm too busy trying to figure out how to get from here onto the other rock I saw. Timidly I stretch out my hand and inch my fingers toward the other rock, trying to get hold.


End file.
